Brad Pitt picks up a sword and brings a muscular, brooding presence to the role of Greek warrior Achilles in this spectacular retelling of The Iliad. Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger play the legendary lovers who plunge the world into war, Eric Bana portrays the prince who dares to confront Achilles, and Peter O'Toole rules Troy as King Priam. Director Wolfgang Petersen recreates a long-ago world of bireme warships, clashing armies, the massive fortress city and the towering Trojan Horse.

DVD Features:
Featurette
Photo gallery
Theatrical Trailer

No doubt about it, the 196-minute unrated director's cut of Troy represents a significant improvement over the film's original 162-minute theatrical release--and not just because it has more sex and violence. As director Wolfgang Petersen notes in his new "Troy Revisited" video introduction to this 2-disc special edition, he didn't have the time or directorial discretion (prior to Troy's release in 2004) to present a cut that more closely matched his vision for the film. Three years later, Petersen approached the film with a more relaxed perspective, and the result is a well-crafted expansion on a film that was previously underrated, with 30 minutes of previously unseen material. Character dynamics have been improved and intensified; the epic-scale narrative is now easier to follow, with greater emphasis on the inner turmoil of Achilles (well played by Brad Pitt) and his rivalry with Hector (Eric Bana); and viewers will feel a more satisfying escalation of tension and suspense from battle to battle. The film's enormous battle scenes (impressively enhanced with CGI) are bloodier and gorier, but they're also more effectively integrated into the political story, which goes beyond Homer's The Iliad and the death of Hector to incorporate elements of Virgil and a more revealing study of the differences between Trojan king Priam (Peter O'Toole) and his megalomanical Greek rival, king Agamemnon (Brian Cox), whose lust for revenge is now one of the film's most powerful ingredients. Some of Troy's original weaknesses remain (such as Orlando Bloom's wimpy performance as Paris), but overall, this director's cut easily justifies its existence, regardless of the film's overblown and historically inaccurate depiction of Troy as a gigantic city of massive columns and statuary. The good parts are better, and the not-so-good parts are more easily forgiven. And no matter how you cut it, Troy is a lavish feast for the eyes. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVDs
Disc 1 contains the first two hours of Troy: The Director's Cut (specifically 1:57:18), with the remaining 78 minutes on disc 2. The film looks better than ever even on a standard-definition DVD. Disc 2 also contain just over 80 minutes of bonus features, with five major sections broken down into shorter sub-sections, all drawn from the same interviews with primary cast & crew and behind-the-scenes publicity footage. "Troy in Focus" (23 minutes total) provides an overview of epic-scale filmmaking. The film's elaborate battles and stunt sequences are explored in "In the Thick of the Battle" (17 min.), while "From Ruins to Reality" (14 min.) examines the historical facts about Troy and the film's show-biz approach (more for the eyes, less for history) to grand-scale production design with varying degrees of historical accuracy. "Troy: An Effects Odyssey" (10 min.) examines the film's elaborate use of CGI and other digital enhancements; and "Attacking Troy" (15 min.) is a production overview of the film's impressive nighttime siege on Troy, complete with a massive Trojan Horse that was later re-assembled for the film's international publicity campaign. Finally, "Greek Ship Towing" (1:20) is an amusing compilation of digitally generated practical jokes and "bloopers" designed, just for fun, by the film's digital effects animators. The original theatrical trailer for Troy is also included. --Jeff Shannon